Burt Rhodes

{{Short description|English band leader, arranger, composer and conductor (1923–2003)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Burt Rhodes

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|4|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Guiseley, West Yorkshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|6|21|1923|4|17|df=y}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Band leader
Arranger
Composer
Conductor
Musical director

| years_active =

| known_for = British television theme songs, Broadway and West End shows

| title =

| spouse = Rosalyn Wilder

| children = 1

| networth =

| website =

}}

Burt Rhodes (17 April 1923 – 21 June 2003) was born in Guiseley, West Yorkshire. He was one of Britain's most successful light entertainment musical directors and composers. His career covered radio and TV, West End and Broadway musicals and he worked with many famous stars including Judy Garland, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr., Vic Damone, Cliff Richard, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Vaughan, Lovelace Watkins, The Supremes, Eartha Kitt, Howard Keel and Bruce Forsyth. In his childhood he had learned to play the piano and the organ, and later became a BBC radio band leader.

Rhodes also worked on many television productions including The Benny Hill Show, The Nixon Line with the magician David Nixon, and the BBC's annual pantomime. He worked on the television shows of Paul Daniels and Beryl Reid.{{cite book

|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001/acref-9780195313734-e-23486

|chapter=Rhodes, Burt

|title=Oxford Reference

|date=January 2009

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|isbn=978-0-19-531373-4

|access-date=6 January 2022}}

From 1966 he was musical director at the Talk of the Town in London, leading the orchestra there to accompany such artists as Pearl Bailey, Mel Tormé, Judy Garland, Johnny Mathis, The Supremes and Frankie Vaughan. He also orchestrated films, including the theme tune for the first James Bond film Dr No (1962).{{cite web

|url=https://nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/explore/interviews/1277411-burt-rhodes-article-1?

|title=Burt Rhodes (1923–2003)

|last=Cotterrell

|first=Roger

|work=National Jazz Archive

|date=17 December 2018

|access-date=6 January 2022}}

He was also a prolific composer and among his memorable credits was the theme tune for the critically acclaimed television sitcom The Good Life. Much appreciated by his peers for his professionalism and intelligence, he was often referred to as "the musicians' musician". He numbered among his many friends musicians such as Ronnie Hazlehurst, Monty Norman and Phil Phillips. In 1958 he was the musical director for Wolf Mankowitz's Expresso Bongo which starred Paul Scofield and Millicent Martin. He followed this with Anthony Newley's Stop the World – I Want to Get Off and Lionel Bart's Blitz! of which Noël Coward said it was "noisier and longer than the real thing".

In September 1958 Robert Nesbitt, impresario Bernard Delfont and restaurateur Charles Forte opened the Talk of the Town on the site of the old London Hippodrome and converted it into a restaurant and cabaret venue. Rhodes had provided the music for Nesbitt's glamorous floorshows, and by 1961 he had become musical director with his own large orchestra for more than 20 years. He directed the music at several Royal Variety Performances at the London Palladium. He also served on committees for the Musicians' Union and the Performing Right Society.

In the 1980s he appeared on screen in the Channel 4 series Top C's and Tiaras.

Rhodes was a life-long cricket fan and a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He was married to Rosalyn Wilder who was Judy Garland's assistant during her season at the Talk of the Town.{{cite web

|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zn0dm

|title=Rosalyn Wilder, Jenelle Riley (30/01/2020)

|work=BBC Radio

|publisher=BBC

|access-date=6 January 2022}}{{cite news

|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-10-04/judy-garland-movie-rosalyn-wilder

|title=The true story behind 'Judy' from the woman who worked with Judy Garland

|last=Zemler

|first=Emily

|date=4 October 2019

|newspaper=Los Angeles Times

|access-date=6 January 2022}} He died in 2003, aged 80. He is survived by his daughter Alison and his partner Rosalyn.{{cite news